Changing puppy's toileting habits

[shirley]

Our 5 month old puppy, does all her duty in our back garden, I would really like to knock this on its head, as its not really fun if we step on her business. Any dibber managed to do this successfully? When shes out she doesnt show any indication of doing her business

[Lisa123wm]

Don’t let her out into the back garden?
If she shows signs of needing the toilet, put her lead on and take her out for a quick walk. She’ll soon go if she’s desperate.
She’s obviously seeing the garden as her ‘toilet’, so she needs to understand that outside, not just the garden, is also a good place to go.
My dog always goes after eating, so I’d take him out for a walk then to encourage him to go.
Luckily, he’ll do his business on a walk or in the garden.

[ely3857]

Our 10m old puppy just stopped - practically overnight - doing anything in the back garden and only goes on walks now. Probably about three months ago.

We didn’t do anything to encourage or change his habits, he just likes to pee scent everywhere outside and defo seems to prefer to poop elsewhere. Previously we just did a garden sweep with a poo bag every time he’d been out.

[mitch84]

I think this is easier with boy dogs than girls.
When my dog started cocking his leg, he only liked weeing on grass. Preferably bushes. So he stopped weeing in our back yard at all as it was all concrete, he would still poo there but was happy not to, as of course I had to walk him for every wee. He prefers to poo off lead however.

I personally found this a right pain in the bum, he had a dog flap fitted but was crossing his paws for a walk etc. I would often drive him to nice parks/fields and of course our horses so he’d need a short walk before getting in the car.
So when we moved to our new house with a big garden we planted some bushes so he’ll happily do his morning wee when he is ready here. He just lets himself out and back in.
He has his spots for his poos in the garden, so I just take a bag out every day or two. So I would much rather him use his garden to be honest.
Agree though if you are keen you just need to stop the garden and walk her everytime she might need to go, not coming back til she has been. Lots of praise and treats. You do get used to learning to watch your feet though 😂

[sam7]

I think its a confidence thing, she feels safe in your garden. Once she is a bit older and gains more confidence of being away from home it will happen on its own. (dogs are 'vulnerable' from attack when toileting, which is why they often watch you, to see if you are keeping watch.
You could fence off an area in your garden (I used those low border edge fences), led my dog there everytime, when she went in the area I made a huge fuss, she eventually went in the area, the children knew not to and everyones feet stayed clean

[LoopyLoo07]

Originally Posted by ely3857

Our 10m old puppy just stopped - practically overnight - doing anything in the back garden and only goes on walks now. Probably about three months ago.

We didn’t do anything to encourage or change his habits, he just likes to pee scent everywhere outside and defo seems to prefer to poop elsewhere. Previously we just did a garden sweep with a poo bag every time he’d been out.

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Same as our puppy, he’s now nearly 8 months and rarely goes in the garden now. He seems to hold all his wee and poo for his walks. He still does a wee in the back garden before bed but rarely has a poo there anymore. We didn’t do anything to make him do this, it just happened over time

[marypoppins38]

My dogs tend to go out late at night before bed and I am often on my own so I wouldn't fancy going out to walk them at that time. Every time they do a poo I just follow them out with a poo bag and pick it up immediately and pop it in the bin. The grass stays nice and clean and we don't have to worry about stepping in anything.

[Lisbon]

As said, take her for a walk, when shes done come home